Who are the best central midfielders in the world? You know how the old cliches go: centre-forwards who win you games and defences win you leagues. Yet there is no denying teams are built around the men in the middle of the park.
Football isn't the simple game it once was, however. These days we have all kinds of midfield maestros: ball-winners, mezzalas, trequartistas, deep-lying playmakers and anchor men - and that's just those listed on Football Manager.
It's not easy picking between the different types, but we've done our best to decide on 10 CMs who can't be quantified as anything else. If you don't like it (and there'll be plenty of you who don't) feel free to tell us where we went wrong on Twitter.
The 10 best central midfielders in the world right now: 10. Federico Valverde
Federico Valverde is a Swiss Army knife for Real Madrid. He began life as a straight central midfielder, can play as a No.8, has the brain to work deep within his own half and was used as a right-winger in Los Blancos' last European title win for his Labrador-like energy across a pitch.
It's not a case of what Valverde does well but what he can't do. His passing is good, his tackling and positioning are excellent and his work-rate is used as an example on the wall of Carlo Ancelotti's office. At 25, he may well go down as a Real great.
9. Granit Xhaka
If you split the pitch into first, middle and final thirds of buildup and play, Granit Xhaka is the only man that Mikel Arteta used in all three. Previously thought of as a poor man's Pirlo – unable to manoeuvre across the pitch with any mobility but capable of a left-pegged long ball from deep to switch play – the Swiss has become a magnificent footballer in recent years.
At Bayer Leverkusen, he's the beating heart of the midfield, getting forward to affect things in attack and working in tandem with Exequiel Palacios to cover Xabi Alonso's back three. Put him in a big game and he grows another few inches, too: Arsenal are certainly noticeably lighter without him in their midfield.
8. Luka Modric
Luka Modric has played 500 times for Real Madrid: not bad for a little Croatian the jury was out on, when he arrived at Tottenham. He's now 38, won five Champions League titles and he's still trivela'ing his way through defences like he's in no rush to slow down.
Modric will go down as one of the greatest footballers ever – and it's fitting that he was the one to break the Messi/Ronaldo Ballon d'Or duopoly. Where those two are all about the numbers, smashing statistics with their bare hands, Modric is more subdued. You won't see him racking up goals and assists to the same degree but everything he does is deft, delicate and he plays a midfield role like he invented it. Watch the game and you might not see him: watch him, and you'll see the game.
7. Gavi
Gavi was made in a laboratory by Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff perched over a petri dish, concocting the ultimate La Masia graduate. There's no other explanation: the Spaniard is the very embodiment of Barcelona's brilliance in his movements, his shoulder feints, his passing and that uncanny knack to either drift into space or exploit it for someone else.
Xavi used him as a left-winger before he got his hands on Joao Felix – in a recent Clasico, he was the man of the match in a more destructive role keeping tabs on Jude Bellingham (though the England star eventually had the last laugh). He may well adapt to be the next Busquets; he may evolve to become a legendary interior at the Camp Nou. That he's still not 20 seems utterly unfair on the rest of football.
6. Enzo Fernandez
There have been plenty of misses in Chelsea's scattergun, billion-blowing 12 months of signings. Enzo Fernandez might just be the gem of the pile that they've signed: potentially a footballer for the ages.
The Argentine was awesome at River Plate, brilliant at Benfica, earning a record-breaking move to west London and his second transfer in a year, not long after being crowned the best young player in Qatar, as well as lifting the main trophy itself. Though his Blues career has been patchy though, Fernandez has shone, his vision, positioning and passing all exemplary in a range of midfield roles. He is worth building a dynasty around.
5. Warren Zaire-Emery
A lack of young French talent coming through was a major blot on Paris Saint-Germain's project. Other Ligue 1 clubs were capable of creating superstars – it seemed like PSG were utterly interested, and in turn, the fans felt a little similar about the side at times, despite their annual romp to a league title.
Warren Zaire-Emery is defining for a number of reasons. The club's youngest-ever player – he was mere months old when Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi – but he has a maturity well beyond his years. He plays to the right of a No.6 most often, tasked with covering the space behind Achraf Hakimi, but also playmaking, keeping PSG ticking over and waiting for spaces to play killer balls into.
He's already incredibly well-rounded as a footballer, superb both on and off the ball, and could go down as the best talent ever through Les Parisiens' system.
4. Pedri
The crowning jewel of Xavi's side, the very apex of modern juego de posicion and the heir to Andres Iniesta's No.8 shirt… is adopted. He never came from La Masia – plucked from Las Palmas, instead – but his influence is as infinite as that digit on his back.
Pedri has been otherworldly since bursting through in a dark era for Barça, connecting the midfield with creativity, drive and determination. He's slotted into the centre of the park for club and country with that trademark 'pausa' on the ball, the ability to pick out a team-mate like a needle in a haystack and he has the mazy meandering from the middle of typically Spanish footballer.
Xavi trusts him implicitly, building the Barcelona team around his talents from the centre outward. He's captivating to watch and indispensable, too.
3. Ilkay Gundogan
Whatever job Pep Guardiola gave him, he looked like one of the best footballers in the world while doing it. No.8 in a possession-heavy side, dictating the traffic of the game and allowing Kevin De Bruyne to attack? That's his speciality: but he also played as a lone No.6, a box-crasher from behind a striker and as a false nine during his time in Manchester… he even played out wide against Liverpool once.
He's played for Manchester City, Germany and Barcelona – and he's not as flashy as some of his former team-mates or predecessors in midfield. But Ilkay Gundogan is as reliable as any of them, excellent on the ball and intrinsically understands the role of a central midfielder. His intelligence is almost unrivalled – it'll be fascinating to see if he moves into management.
And his penchant for the big game elevates him, too. Title-winning goals, massive European performances and scoring streaks in the Treble run-in last season have granted him god status in Eastlands. Now he's on a mission to do the same in Catalonia – and a Clasico goal has got him off the mark already.
2. Antoine Griezmann
Some wondered if Antoine Griezmann could ever surprise them again. An underdog who never played in France yet became Les Bleus' posterboy at a home Euros, he won a World Cup from Oliver Giroud's shadow, became the very definition of the SS position for Diego Simeone – El Cholo built an Atletico Madrid side around Griezmann's talents – and then left for Barcelona as a monarch.
But Barça didn't go well for him: some wrote him off, both domestically and internationally. It would have been easy to crumble – but the reinvention has been something else and Griezmann has been arguably the most outstanding footballer in La Liga over the past 18 months from midfield, after a bizarre contract situation in which he was being forced on to the pitch in bursts.
He's reimagined himself as a roaming playmaker and in the same way that he used to find pockets of space to strike in, he's now finding team-mates in those areas. He's been the energy, the imagination and the talisman for Atleti in recent times, in a completely different role. Griezmann burned bright and in his early 30s, it seemed like he was on the wane: instead, he completed a 180.
1. Bernardo Silva
There are specialists in football who excel at one particular role – and Guardiola has leant on them. Oleksandr Zinchenko, from inverted left-back. Erling Haaland, as a poaching forward. Leroy Sane, as a same-footed, touchline-hugging left-winger.
And then there are his generalists who excel at just about everything on a football pitch and are capable of any task he gives them. Bernardo Silva should be amazing on paper: he has equal parts technical brilliance on the ball and hard-running intensity off of it. It's his fierce cleverness, anticipation and enviable IQ on a football pitch that makes him quite so brilliant at combining both, however.
He adapted from a No.10 in his youth to become a right-winger, then moved into a central midfield role, where he's now capable of controlling games, ball-winning and operating in all phases. He's been used as a partner to Rodri in buildup and as a false nine, evading markers. He can play De Bruyne's role, David Silva's, Phil Foden's or a hybrid of a few. He was deployed at left-back, for goodness sake, in a title clash away to Arsenal – and City won comfortably.
Bernardo is a unicorn of a footballer, the kind of player who doesn't come along very often. Some managers would give them one job and leave them to it: but Pep is greedy and wants him to do everything. He can do it. He's not just an incredible central midfielder, he's an incredible footballer full stop.
